The Path Which Leads Home II- Sinister Intentions
by Omniskriba
Summary: Jyou's death brings many surprises- especially the fact that he was able to E-mail from the 'other side'. Koushiro now proposes to do the impossible- to bring back Jyou from the Digital world where his soul takes residence.


The Path Which Leads Home 2: Sinister Intent  
~*~  
By Kyoko_Jyou  
~*~  
Note: This is another old fic that I only posted now. Thank you Ismini for inspiring me to post this ficcy. I hope all of you out there read it, like it, and review it!  
~*~  
Disclaimer: OK, I think this is already straight forward. Please do not sue me if any of the following characters in the following sequel resembles (however remotely) trademarked characters in either their way of speaking, personality, et cetera. I do not own Digimon (as of now), nor do I own Disney, Paramount Pictures, or Nokia (yet), but may this li'l fic be enjoyed by whoever takes the time to read it (for it is, you see, the first...erhm...second stage to my plans of GLOBAL DOMINATION HAHAHAHAHA!!!!)...but, please, enough of this mindless rambling and lets get on to the story, shall we?  
~*~  
Prologue  
~*~  
If you have'nt noticed, this is "The Path Which Leads Home, Part II". It's a sequel, get it? If you want to get this into full perspective, go read the first one. Well, for those of you who can't find it, I'll just explain Part One briefly, below.  
Part One starts when Izzy returns from MIT after three years of scholarship study. It has been about 7 years after the first Digimon incident and everybody has lost touch...until now.  
They were having a reunion, telling each other how great life was and how they missed each other...well, at least, that's what most of them said.  
This story takes off from the ending of Part One, when Joe (who had been drunk for sometime before arguing with Mimi about how terribly pathetic his life was) jumps off Izzy's apartment building (which was on the eleventh floor), with Mimi following him down (who wanted to grab him, only falling off as well).  
On impact, Joe becomes Mimi's shock absorber and Mimi survives...while Joe's skull has been totally crushed into porridge. Mimi wakes up on Odaiba General Hospital with a bad bruise. Good for her, that was all she'd got. Joe was killed.  
Mimi was totally guilty of Joe's death, but T.K. (who overheard everything while being in the bathroom all the time they were arguing) explains to everybody that they were all to blame.  
Joe's Funeral was a terribly solemn one. Mimi was mourning over Joe's casket, but it did her no good. You can't raise the dead by crying...Or at least, not in this story (hey, ever watched "Pokemon, the First Movie?").  
Then suddenly...Izzy recieves an e-mail...from Joe! Could it be that Joe's spirit was so "at home" in the Digital World that when he died, he returns there? Everyone was shocked. Who would'nt be after receiving an e-mail from a dead person?  
I told you it needed a sequel...  
It had to happen, Okay?  
So, here's the continuation for "TPWLH"..."TPWLH2"...  
~*~  
Part One: Eleven's a team and Ten's a Crowd.  
~*~  
Kido Residence. April 12. 12:20 AM  
"I'm alright. Do no mourn or sob or cry. I rest now, where my heart belongs. Not in the heat of the sun or the lights of the city streets, but in the world which you all know so well and I love so much. Do not fear, all is well... -Sincerely, Kido Jyou."  
Izzy was mortified. He read the letter slowly while the entire Kido residence was in utter silence for several minutes before a crowd gathered to look at the laptop.  
"Izzy...are you...kidding?" Tai began to talk in a way he hadn't been since grade school. He looked at his red-headed friend, who has frozen solid, fingers curled up in the keyboard.  
Matt started nudging the boy, who's eyes wasn't even blinking. He was just there sweating, as if he has seen a ghost... which was totally understandable since he just received an e-mail from a person who s'possed to have got his brains hatched out by falling from the eleventh floor of an apartment building.  
Everybody else either stared at Izzy or looked over his back to see the monitor. There it was, a letter from Joe...who they all saw lying on the casket in the Kido living room.  
Mrs. Kido fainted and was caught by Dr. Kido's arms. Jim just stood there, puzzled. He would be over-joyed to know that his little brother has survived into the digital-world, but was willing to pound anyone to molasses anyone else but Joe who might have sent that letter as joke-mail.  
Matt couldn't think of anything to wake Izzy up, so he took a nearby flower vase and poured it's water down Izzy's shirt.  
"YAAAAH!!!"  
"Finally, you start talking!"  
"Well, you did'nt have to pour ice cold water down my spine! Geez..."  
Izzy was standing up to give Matt a nice hard one on the face (hey, there's a first time for everything, right?"), when Tai pulls him back down on to his seat, catching the laptop on his other arm when it almost fell down when Izzy stood up.  
"Iz, you might have broken this."  
Izzy calmed down. He went back to looking at the monitor, this time flipping e-mail adressess to track the sender. No one matched it. No one on this world at least.  
"This is unbelievable. By all stand points of logic, the only possible explanation for this is that...Joe's spirit's in the Digiworld!"  
"Prodigious..." Matt uttered under his breath...  
"Hey that's my line!"  
"Well, you were gonna say it anyway, were'nt you?"  
"Just get off my back Matt, please, I'm trying to concentrate..."  
"When did you learn to talk like that..."  
Izzy stood up again, wanting to drive his fists into Matt's mouth. Tai catches the laptop fall again.  
"Izzy, do you really want this to break, cuz if you do, you could always give it to me, y'know..."  
Izzy stopped. He sat back down and yanked the laptop back. He went back to work while Matt walked back to his corner.  
As for Mimi, she didn't know what to think.  
"Izzy, where's Joe!? What happened!? You gotta tell me!? Where is HE!?"  
Mimi held Izzy by the collar. It was so much easier when Izzy was smaller. She could pick him up and shake him like a stuffed animal. But this time, size did'nt matter. Even if Izzy was almost a foot taller than Mimi, she was still able to shake him down like a stuffed animal (although picking him up was a totally different story).  
Izzy did'nt know what to say or do. Sure he had a crush on the girl who was ready to tear him to pieces if he didn't talk. Sure his heart throbbed everytime those hazel eyes met his in a flurry of mourning pink. Yet it wasn't him in Mimi's eyes. Even if she clung tightly onto his clothes, he felt it wasn't him she was holding. Her hands touched him, but she wasn't actually touching HIM...she was touching...Joe. She only saw Joe through those hazel eyes. Only Joe in those clenched hands. Only Joe...  
"Izzy, if you don't say a word within the next five seconds, consider yourself OATMEAL!"  
"Mimi..."  
"WHAT!?"  
"Joe's in the digital world..."  
"Tell me he's OK...TELL ME!!!"  
"He is...well that's what he said..."  
Mimi stopped shaking Izzy. Izzy looked like he's been run over by a train, or something. His hair was spaghetti, his clothes were coleslaw (Porridge? Oatmeal? Spaghetti? Coleslaw? Am I hungry!?). Mimi started crying again. Izzy pats her on the back while she clung once more onto Izzy's shirt.  
"Mimi, please don't tear my shirt off...I don't have another one with me.."  
Jim over hears their conversation. "Joe has some shirts in his room. I guess he wouldn't need those anymore..."  
As if triggered by the vigorous shaking, Izzy then had a sudden idea. (Well, I guess anybody could have thought of that, but I guess Izzy's the big brains in the group, so he might as well be the person who comes up with the idea) He stood up straight once again (with Tai catching the laptop for the umpteenth time) and announced...  
"Jim, Mimi, everybody. This might sound weird but there is a way to revive Joe...and...uhh...Jim, could I borrow one of Joe's shirts, this one's not gonna hold on any longer..."  
Everybody stared at the red haired boy for a few seconds. "What's he gonna do? Raise the dead?" They all knew Izzy was a genius, but he's a computer whiz, not a miracle worker. Joe's the doctor so, if anyone could, he'd be the one who (if it was remotely possible) would.  
Jim was stunned by Izzy's proposition, still doubting that it was Joe who wrote the e-mail. But he trusts Izzy. He does. He takes him to Joe's room.  
So dark, so solemn, so anti-bacterial. Just like living in a vacuum sealed plastic container. It wasn't a mess, but there were things lying everywhere. Ever since Joe died, his father started regretting what he had done to him and started appreciating Joe's drawings which now hang on his wall.  
There was one of Gomamon, one of his entire family, one of the entire Digidestined gang , and one of... Mimi. So serene. So life like. So...pink (where did he get all that pink paint any way?).  
Jim leaves Izzy in the room so he could find something he would like to wear. He never imagined that he would ever be wearing Joe's clothes (which, a few years ago, was big enough for him to make a tent out of). Izzy digs through Joe's old clothes and finds a nice blue shirt. Fits perfectly, though not really his color d'jour and still a bit long (hey I said Izzy "grew", not "blew up").  
He was about to leave when something crossed his eyes... something which was written on Mimi's painting on the lower left corner...a little note...  
(Authors note: Major corn alert! Major corn alert! Got this bit of literature from an ice cream commercial! Don't flame me! I had to put something, didn't I?)  
"How do I love you?  
How much, To what extent?  
I love you with every breath,  
I love you with every sigh,  
With every waking hour and every dream at night,  
When I wake up in the morning, I pray to see you rise,  
When I go to sleep at night, I bid that you are well,  
I love you from the depths of the fathomless deep,  
To the vaults of the azure sky,  
But most of all, I love thee with all my heart,  
And If it must stop to keep yours,  
I will gladly lay it down and die a million and one deaths  
So that I may guard thee from the edge of Eternity,  
And I will always do...  
For I love you..."  
"Pro...digious...I never knew Joe wrote anything like this" Izzy gasped. "I know Joe was a good artist but never a poet..."  
Izzy felt an instinct to take the painting. He felt that he would need this later on. He took the frame down and took the painting, which he then rolls up and inserts in his pocket. He then hides the frame into the closet.  
He leaves Joe's room with a sigh. Could he do the same to Mimi if he ever had the chance? He would be calculating for trajectory and impact velocity while Joe would be mindlessly trying to take a bullet for Mimi. At least he would try to do something. If it was up to Matt, there would still be a 50% chance if he would care at all.  
~*~  
Chapter Two: The Proposition  
~*~  
Kido Residence. April 12. 1:05 PM.  
If anybody could make such a far fetched proposition such as raising the dead, it would certainly be Davis, who was rather down (hey, it's a funeral). Nobody expected Izzy to say it, and after he did, they still didn't believe that those words came from Izzy's mouth.  
"Izzy, what kind of glue have you been sniffing lately?" Tai asked, with a bit of concern in his voice."  
"I think that computer's gotten the best of him?" T.K. added.  
"Are you sure he's not taking drugs back in the States?" Yolie said, trying to insert comic relief.  
Izzy snarled back, standing back up (don't worry, Matt has Izzy's computer, playing Solitaire- official game of bachelors) "Don't you get it?"  
"WHAT!?" They all asked in unison.  
"If Joe's in the computer, then that means we can find him in the Digital World!"  
The room kept silent for a few moments before they all started talking again.  
"Is this kid in drugs?" Most of the Kido relatives started talking amongst themselves. Only the Digidestined, and Jim, knew what Izzy was talking about.  
Dr. Kido approached Izzy with a stern arm. "Mr. Izumi, I believe you should be going now..."  
Jim stepped in and held his father by the shoulders "Dad, hear him out. he knows what he's doing..."  
Mr. Kido sighed. "Just don't bother my son any longer, you hear..."  
Dr. Kido also blamed himself for Joe's untimely death and spent much of his time looking at photo albums. So much wasted time. A whole childhood. How could he have been such a jerk. He never liked it when his father did that to him... so why did he do it to Joe?  
Jim shifted his attention to Izzy. "Izzy, do you know how we can get Joe back?"  
"Well, if his soul has somewhat digitized, if he happens to come back into this world, I guess we could modify his Binary Code to include a body as well..."  
"You can do that?"  
"Yeah...but that's the easy part."  
"Easy part?"  
"That's just a walk in the park compared to the hard part, which is convincing Joe to come back."  
"Why would'nt he want to come back?"  
"Let's just say, he's going through a lot of personal problems right now."  
"Oh..."  
All the Digidestined gathered together. They had to try. They must find Joe, somewhere in that vast expanse of the Digital World...or face the facts that he was gone for good.  
"There is only one place I know where we can open the Digiport in."  
"Odaiba Elementary's Computer Room?" Tai asks.  
"Exactly. Since we can't all go there, we must choose who's going and who's staying with the computer to alter Joe's code."  
"Well, none of us could do that better than you and Miyako..." Cody said with a slight gruff on his voice.  
"So, who's going then?"  
"I am" Matt volunteers. "I know how to get past those guards, and you know you can't get into that place without sneaking in..."  
"So Matt's in. We can only send a maximum of five."  
"Let me go too!" TK exclaimed.  
"No, your staying here!" Matt scolded his little brother.  
"Hey, I'm old enough to stand for myself. And besides, that guy's saved my life so many times..."  
"Yeah, yeah. Cut the crap."  
"So TK's in, who else?"  
"I think I should go too..."  
"Cody?"  
"Well, it's not like that guy's been like a big brother to me..."  
"Oh yeah...Okay, so Cody's in. Next..."  
"I'll go!" Sora stepped forward.  
"No it's do dangerous, I'll go..." Tai reprimanded her.  
"Do you mind? Just because we've been going out together, doesn't mean I have to go where ever you want to go, OK?"  
"Okay...okay. I'll be the fifth one then."  
"So that's Matt, TK, Cody, Sora, and Ta..."  
"Hold it!!!"  
Mimi stopped their conversation.  
"I wanna go."  
"No you'd only make him..."  
"I said I WANNA GO!!!"  
"Mimi..."  
"I will carry that guilt of killing him for the rest of my life even if you bring him back or not. I will never be able to get rid of that guilt unless I do anything to get Joe back...do you understand me..."  
Izzy froze once more. Mimi was crying in bucketfuls.  
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?"  
"Alright...alright...you may go...you may go...but one of the rest must back out."  
"Sora...I think you should..."  
"Back off Tai. I'm not leaving..."  
"Well who's going then!?"  
"Tai...if you don't leave me alone, were breaking up..."  
"But Sora..."  
"Hey, do you want to stay steady or not."  
"Alright I'll stay. But if Joe asks where I am, tell him Sora beat me up..."  
"Oh, I love it when you say that..."  
"Yeah whatever..."  
Izzy looked at them all. Matt, TK, Cody, Sora and Mimi. Off to find a friend...somewhere in the Digital World. Although Joe lies on the casket beside them, they knew he wasn't there...and they're gonna bring him back...  
As for Joe's relatives, they just stood there, scratching their heads and furrowing their brows, vainly trying to understand a word Izzy, or the others, were saying.  
Jim shook Izzy's hands, giving him a sign of confidence. Izzy knew Jim would do anything to get Joe back, but he could'nt do anything now. Only he could. And he will. For he feels the same way- that he will also do everything to get his friend back. And this time, they're facing a challenge without him...  
~*~  
Chapter Three: Mission: Improbable.  
~*~  
When we last left off, Izzy is determined to revive Joe by sending five of the Digidestined to the Digital World to find him. Yet finding Joe is one thing, but convincing him to come back? I dunno. Better read on...reader...  
Odaiba Elementary, near the Computer Room. April 13. 9:40 AM  
"Izzy...were here..." Matt whispered into a comunicator-type device.  
"Good. Now procede to the Computer Room. I will transmit further instructions..."  
Matt nodded and closed his link with Izzy. All five of them started walking slowly on the sidewalks by the school. It was a Sunday so the place was practically deserted...except for security guards.  
They all ran to the end of the alley, right below the window of the Computer Room. The alley was really narrow so you could try walking up it with your back on the other wall.  
Unfortunately, there was a surveillance camera making sure nobody's doing any monkey business (like climbing up the alley) so they could'nt just climb up there.  
"Matt, how the heck do we get up there?" Sora whispered.  
"Just leave it up to me...I've done this thousands of times..."  
Matt reached into his pocket and pulled a tiny novelty knife out. He reached again and took a fine fiberglass wire tied in a spool.  
"Just twist it like so..." Matt ties the knife to one end of the wire. "Cody, your back pack..."  
"Huh?...Oh..." Cody reaches out from within and pulls what looks like an aluminum plate stuck on it's sides with wires sticking out of a black box.  
"Batteries?"  
"Yup..."  
"Good. Now hook this up while I ready the knife..."  
Cody rushes to connect the wire into the black box. Matt holds onto the knife...aims at the camera...and...  
"Bingo..."  
The knife flies in the air and in a few moments, it cut through a bundle of cables while tying the fiberglass wires around the severed ends. In an instant, Cody activates the black box.  
"What is that thing?" Sora asks.  
"It's a Satellite uplink accesing a portable VCD operating unit back in Izzy's house."  
"A what on a what, now?...And when did you learn to talk like Izzy?"  
"Well Izzy's not the only one of us who knows how to sabotage a security system. Besides, he taught me how to install this thing..."  
"What does that thing do anyway?"  
"Well...after I've managed to sever the usual link of the surveilance camera, we're currently feeding the guard room monitors old security footages from DVD's I've happen to have swiped a long time ago. It's now playing in Izzy's DVD player and is being broadcasted through a nationwide Cable TV sattelite..."  
"I'm not getting a word your saying...still the Izzy talk."  
"Would you mind quit trying to understand what were doing and let's just do it for cripes SAKE!!!" TK said, annoyed.  
They all turned to each other and started their long climb to the window. They had their back to the wall and tried to squeeze themselves tightly so they would'nt fall down from where they were while walking vertically...slowly and painfully.  
Soon they got to the window ledge, but the window's locked.  
"I suppose you have a way in?" Sora said, panting from the climb.  
Matt kept silent. He tried to get a paper clip from his pocket, but he had trouble while still squeezing into both alley walls. When he did get the paper clip, it fell down.  
"Crap. And that was my last one too."  
Mimi remembered the clip on her hair, which was falling off anyway.  
"Here. Jimmy the lock with this."  
"Who said anything about jimmying locks?"  
"Are'nt you going to open the locks by picking it with a clip?"  
"No...I was going to use the paper clip to pick the skeleton key from the grooves of my shoes...but since you gave me your hair clip..."  
"Hey, I use that for my hair!"  
"No duh..." Matt picked a shiny key from the bottom of his shoes, including an awful lot of muck, mud, and assorted pebbles and scum. Matt grabs the key and inserts it into the lock, opening the window in an instant.  
"Where'd you get that key?" Sora asks.  
"It's from my dad. How'd you suppose reporters get into all those apartments without knocking, huh?"  
Sora kept quiet. Matt started to nudge the key onto the lock until... *click*, the Lock suddenly gives way. TK helps his brother open the window, and with a steady hand, he pushes it up and the Computer Room was already theirs...  
"Quick, go inside..." Matt scolded under his voice. They all rushed in, only to find a dark room filled with computers in every corner. They have found it.  
"Izzy...we've reached the Computer lab. Now what do we do?"  
"Just follow my instructions and you'll be fine. Now, open a computer and log in as me..."  
Matt plugs in a unit and turns it on. The monitor glowed slowly.  
"Izzy, what's the password?"  
"Prodigious...duh..."  
"Oh yeah, so now you expect me to know that..."  
"Stop yapping and start typing in that code! Geez..."  
"All right, all right. I only have two hands you know..."  
Matt rushed to enter P-R-O-D-I-G-I--O-U-S...  
"Now what?"  
"Take your Digivices and open the Digiport!"  
"How'd we do that!?"  
"Say 'Digiport Open'!"  
"Oh..."  
Matt pulls his digivice and yells those words out loud... "DIGIPORT... OPEN!"  
"I knew there was something fishy going on in here..." A voice resonates from the outside hall. "Who goes there!?"  
The others have already been reduced to binary code. Only Matt stood by the computer. He was there confronted by...a security guard (oooh, scary...).  
"What are you doing here? Hey, aren't you a bit to old to be in Elementary School?"  
"Uhhm, I guess I am. Well, it's a Sunday, so I guess I might be leaving..."  
"Not so fast!"  
"Huh?"  
"I believe you're the hooligan that's been playing on the Surveilance Camera outside..."  
"What d'you mean?"  
"Well, I don't suppose a Surveilance Camera outside Odaiba Elementary be sending video clips of an old British boarding school!!!"  
"An old British WHAT!?"  
"You heard me right. "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" has been playing on our monitors since just a few minutes ago. You'll have a lot of explainin' to do, boy."  
"Uhhh... I feel I'm gonna be sick..."  
"Hey, do you have a name?"  
"Yeah. Matt... err Yamato. Ishida Yamato."  
"Well, Mr. Ishida, we'll just be callin' your parents and have them pay for the 'minor' damage you've done to our cameras..."  
"Huh? No wait... I'm not Ishida Yamato! No, my name's Tai. Tai Kamiya...no wait, no my name is Joe. Joe Kido...wait, he's dead. Wait, my name's ... oh... brother." The Guard leads him down the corridors and down the security station. He then uses his communicator when the guard's not looking. "Izzy!? What's all of this Harry Potter bullsh*t the guard's talking about?"  
"Harry Potter?"  
"Yeah. Guard-boy here sez that old kid's movie's been airing on his monitor when we sabotaged it earlier. What happened to the security footage?"  
"Uh-oh..." Izzy looked at the DVD player beside him... "Eep."  
"Thanks a lot Izzy. Now get ready to meet Joe when I get my fists on..."  
"Who are you talking too?" the Guard speaks, while looking for an Ishida in the phone book.  
"Matt, where are the others?"  
"Oh, there probably in the Digiworld now, while I'm stuck here to pay for the camera.."  
"Okay. I'll take from here. See ya..." Izzy disconnects link.  
"Izzy? Izzy? Koushiro? Izzy you little...ehrm you, uh... what word am I looking for...ah yes. Izzy... you overgrown excuse for a IBM CPU with spiky hair, If you don't speak up right now..."  
"That's it. I'm calling the police..." the Guard replies again.  
"Wait, no, you don't understand. I was talking to Izzy...he's a friend, well not right now but..."  
"And I suppose this Izzy looks like an overgrown IBM CPU with spiky hair?"  
"Yes, he really does! If he'd only speak now I know you'd..."  
"Sure. I'll just call the police so you'd feel much better..."  
"NO you don't understand...uh...this is beginning to be a really bad day for me..."  
"I'm sure it has..."  
~*~  
Chapter Four: In Fields of Ones and Zeroes Lay.  
~*~  
So Matt has been taken by the Police when they catch him sneaking into Odaiba Elementary's Computer Room in an attempt to find the spirit of Joe in the Digital World, so it's one down and Mimi, Sora, T.K. and Cody to go. And I do mean to go...  
"Izzy? Where's Matt?" TK contacted Izzy through his laptop. Izzy's ICQ window hovers high above them all.  
"He's...uhm...having some troubles with getting in. So, what is your location?"  
"Were here in what seems to be that place with the beach and the telephone booths..."  
"Wait, that's too far! You're on the other side of File Island! You have to trek north to Gomamon's Sector. He's sure to be there..."  
"Uhm...Iz...I don't wan't to disappoint you but..." TK looks around, so does the others. "Uhm, there's something terribly wrong here..."  
"What do you mean, there's something terribly wrong? Matt visits the Digital World once in a while to check up on the place! What's going on?"  
"It looks like something a Dark Master or another Digimon Kaiser would have done. Everything seems to be...flooded..."  
TK looked into the forest by the beach and saw a vast pool miles wide almost getting it's way into the sea.  
"Izzy, what could have caused all this?" Sora asks the floating ICQ window.  
"Beats me. I've never seen anything like it. But according to my computer, If you had a boat, you have direct access to the Northern Sector."  
"If I only had my Digimon..." Cody said under his breath.  
"Were are the Digimon?" Mimi asked. "They usually gather near us when we come."  
"Now I'm definitely sure there's something wrong here." TK murmured.  
Looking around, Sora saw a washed up plank. "Hey guys! Look over there! We can use that Plank as raft."  
"Good thinking. Now let's go out there and get Joe back!" TK responds.  
"RIGHT" they all yell in unison.  
But little did they know that somebody else was watching over them. Somebody they knew, but lost some time ago. Some one who did'nt want them there...  
***  
"Hmm. I knew you were coming. I might as well dispose of you now before you ruin this life as much as you ruined the other..."  
The mysterious spectator snapped his fingers.  
"Magna Seadramon. I want you to dispose of a few 'old friends' of mine. Make sure they do not get in our way. Understood?"  
"Yes, your majesty. As you wish."  
Magna Seadramon slithers away into the deep.  
***  
"Where did all this water come from?" TK asked, not expecting an answer.  
Everybody rowed with paddles made from really big leaves.  
Suddenly...  
"NYAAAAARGH!!!"  
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Magna Seadramon flies out from the murky depths of the waters below.  
"TK, what's going on in there?"  
"Izzy, Magna Seadramon's attacking us!"  
"Don't you have any Digimon with you?"  
"No..."  
"Well, then. Paddle for your lives!" And they did. Quickly. They slid northward in search of Joe, and escaping Magna Seadramon. What could be possibly worse?"  
"TK!"  
"What now, Cody?!"  
"The Raft has sprung a leak!"  
"WHAT!?" The raft started sinking. Slowly. Soon they find themselves swimming instead of paddling.  
"TK, Sora, Cody! Let's all stick together!" In an instant, Magna Seadramon lunges between them and they all float away from each other. So much for sticking together.  
A Few Minutes later, where TK was at (up a tree sticking out from the water...)...  
"Where is everybody?" TK looked around him. Nobody around. He looked up and saw the sky was dim. He looked around and saw...  
"This...this is incredible! Infinity Mountain's covered in...snow!?"  
Sure, the top of the mountain's like miles away from the now swampy surface of File Island, but it was never remotely covered in snow.  
"There must have been an imbalance in the distribution of power of Digimon in File Island. If Infinity Mountain's covered in snow, then Ikkakumon must be the dominant Digimon...wait a minute...Ikkakumon!?"  
"Why, do you think Ikkakumon is too weak to conquer the Island?"  
"Yeah...I think...hey! Who said that?"  
He turned around and saw a very tall figure, wearing a blue blazer and horn rim glasses. His long blue hair played against the wind, some covering his diabolically smiling face...  
"Hello TK..."  
"Joe? JOE!!!" TK suddenly looked up into the sky, searching for Izzy's ICQ window. "Izzy! I found Joe! Look, I found Joe!"  
"Sorry, TK. But I had to cut Izzy's Server, so he could'nt be responding for a while..."  
"Joe..."  
"And another thing. You were right. Ikkakumon is too weak to dominate File Island. So, I had him Digivolve."  
"Zudomon would still be..."  
"Not Zudomon, TK. Something a little bit more powerful..."  
Joe raised his arm and a little pink Digimon with Koromon's head and a pink heart on it's chest flew into Joe's finger.  
"That thing is Zudomon's Mega Level? Are you joking?"  
"TK, meet Marine Angemon. Marine Angemon...well, you know who he is."  
"How could...that thing..."  
"Let's just say this li'l guy packs a big wallop."  
"Say, Joe... what's happened to File Island?"  
"I redecorate."  
"You what!?"  
"I realized that my Digimon's dominion over the island was too small so I decided to take over it."  
"Joe..."  
"TK, poor little TK. Where is your brother when you need him huh?"  
"Joe...what has happened to you!"  
"What has happened to ME? I'll tell you what has happened to me. I have openned my EYES. I have been freed from fear, from persecution, from nonentity! See what I could do!? See!? I have conquered File Island for myself, and soon...all computers on Earth!"  
"Joe, what have you done with the Digimon?"  
"Oh, them. Those who could'nt swim simply drowned... And don't worry, your precious digimon companions are locked up safetly on Infinity Mountain, just in case they try to rebel..."  
TK was possesed by great anger. Was it Joe speaking, or some diabolical maniac with a plan of World Conquest (finally, a man after my own heart...)? He could not let him, whoever he was, get away with what he did. TK stood up and tried to tackle the man off the tree.  
"I would'nt do that if I were you..." Joe raises an arm, points at TK, and lifts the kid off the ground using...Telekinetic Psychic Powers!? (Whoa, what kind of glue have I been sniffing lately?). TK floats helplessly in midair as Joe (with his hair floating and his eyes all white alà the Exorcist) clenches his hands, making TK snarl in agony. "I told you not to do that."  
"Joe...for the love of..."  
"For the love of who!?"  
"Joe, what has happened to you. You're insane!"  
"No I'm not. An insane man sees nothing but lies and acts towards it as if it was true. I, on the other hand have seen the truth, and it tastes sooooo goood!"  
With another wave of his hand, TK vanishes. Joe laughs machiavelianly as he too begins to vanish into a mist. Marine Angemon continues to use her powerful Ocean Love attck, submerging more and more parts of File Island.  
***  
Meanwhile, Cody clings for dear life in a floating piece of the raft...  
"TK? Sora? Mimi? Anybody?"  
"Oh, TK won't be able to hear you..."  
That voice...  
"Joe...is that you?"  
"Yes it is me, Cody."  
"Joe, where are you?"  
"Oh, I'm around. Right beside you, mostly." Cody looks up, and sees Joe sitting on the raft.  
"JOE!"  
"Cody. I've seen you have grown into a fine young lad."  
"Thanks. Well I would'nt have if it was'nt for you, Joe."  
"Nonesense. I know you could have had lot's of other role models. I was just lucky I guess." A brief moment of awkward silence.  
"So Joe... why's the Digital World flooded like this?"  
"Well, you see... ever since I came to the Digital World, I came to think how much I did'nt like the place so I did some, y'know, remodeling..."  
"You did this?"  
"Certainly. You don't think I could do this?"  
"Uhm...I guess not. Hey, were are the Digimon?"  
"Up Infinity Mountain. I locked them up so they would'nt, y'know, revolt and stuff."  
"YOU... locked THEM... UP. I don't get it."  
"Well, get it already. Don't you know that you're staring at the new Digimon Kaiser, soon to be the Emperor of the Digital World!"  
"Joe, one nasty bump on the head sure made you weird."  
"Really? So I suppose you don't like my new design?"  
"Uhm...now that you mentioned it..."  
"Uggh. Another low life barbarian. Very well, off with you..."  
He once again raises his hand and with a snap of his finger, Cody vanishes into nothing. So that's three down, and two left.  
***  
Meanwhile, Sora's having a few problems of her own, being the one left fending off Magna Seadramon...  
"EEEEEEKKK Stay away from me, you super sized intestinal parasite!"  
Magna Seadramon was about to turn Sora into an hors d' ouvres when suddenly...  
"Magna Seadramon. That is enough..."  
"As you wish, Your Majesty..."  
Magna Seadramon returns to the murky deep as Sora floats on a piece of the raft.  
"Thanks a lot, you saved my life from that awful giant...huh? Who saved me? Who are you? Who's there?"  
"Sora, dear pitiful Sora..."  
"Hey. Who do you think you are, calling me...by my first name? Hey, how'd you..."  
"Sora... Sora Takenouchi?"  
"Joe? Joe, is that you?"  
"It's so good you remembered..."  
"Joe! I can't believe your alive!"  
"Speak for yourself. You're half drowned, half eaten, and half passed out..."  
"So, your still bad at Math, eh..."  
"Oh, who need's your remarks..."  
"Oh Joe, chill. I'm just happy to see you again."  
"Really. I suppose Tai's not gonna be jealous."  
"Don't worry. Tai's not within a trillion miles from where we are. Besides, I bet he's glad too."  
"Oh, and I'm suppose to be happy about that."  
"Well...yeah. I mean, we did'nt have to travel all this way to be eaten by Magna Seadramon. We came here to...save you..."  
"Save me? Save me? Are you out of your wits, girl? I'm so happy here. Look around you. The water! The snow on Infinity Mountain. I made it all happen!"  
"You did WHAT!?"  
"Yes...and I have complete control over all the Digimon too..."  
"So that explains Magna Seadramon, but what about all this water?"  
"Ask TK...you'll meet him soon enough..."  
"Huh..."  
With another snap of a finger, Sora floats in the air, then slowly disappears. Nobody left...only Mimi. Can she possibly save Joe from that seemingly persistent bad mood? Can she do it? Can she? Can she? I don't know...yet. Wait till the next chapter. I'll tell you all about it- where TK, Cody, and Sora goes, what really happened to Matt, Izzy's connection restored, and the conclusion to The Path Which Leads Home2!...  
~*~  
Chapter Five: The Confession.  
~*~  
So that's four down and one to go. Joe's in a bad mood and is flooding File island for his water digimon. Can this newly proclaimed Digimon Kaiser be stopped? I don't know, I just started typing this chapter, damnit!  
Izumi Residence...oh, I don't care what time it is any more...  
"Huh?" Sora felt herself suddenly materialize into Izzy's bedroom.  
"Sora, what happened to you?" Izzy said.  
"Uhhh... what happened to...the others..."  
"They're here, Sora. They materialized into my room the same way as you did. They're also very tired..."  
"What happened to...File...Island?"  
"Joe...he someway digivolved Zudomon into it's Mega Level, Marine Angemon."  
"And that gives him the power to turn the Island into a swamp...?"  
"Yeah. Marine Angemon is some digimon alright...hey, wait a second...Where's Mimi?"  
"She's...not here?"  
"No. I lost contact ever since my server was disconected. I'm trying to get connected again..."  
"Warn...Mimi. Joe's...not...human..."  
Meanwhile, Mimi was wandering aimlessly in the swamp...  
"Where the heck am I?"  
Suddenly, an ICQ window blinked in the sky...  
"Mimi, be careful..."  
"Oh, yeah now you tell me. I was almost eaten by Magna Seadramon..."  
"Well, Magna Seadramon's the least of our problems. It seems that Joe's the one causing all of this..."  
"Joe? Our Joe? My Joe? Joe...Joe?"  
"Yeah."  
"How'd he...why'd he? I'm not getting any of this..."  
"Well, I believe we only have one more way to convince him to come back, but I need you to do something very important..."  
Izzy fiddles with the computer and downloads a note into Mimi's hands...  
"Mimi. Read that when Joe come's to get you, okay?'  
"Sure..." Mimi scans the note. She freezes.  
"Whatcha readin'" A voice echoes in the distance. Izzy's ICQ blinks out...  
"It's nothing. A letter a friend...hey who's talking?" A hand nudges her back..."  
"Joe!?"  
"My dear sweet Mimi. I thought you'd never come back in the Digiworld..."  
"Well, we came here to save you, silly."  
"Okay, here we go again. I don't want to be saved. I am happy here. I love this place. My digimon love this place. Who are you to take me away from here?"  
"Joe. I am Mimi. I might not have been the nicest friend. I might not have been a nice friend at all. But I have been your friend. And whatever you say or do now can not change the fact that YOU LOVE ME JOE!"  
"I've yelled it once and I'll yell it again... NO I DON'T! I'm not going to compete with Matt or Izzy. And besides, that was years ago, you here? Years ago!"  
"YES YOU DO! YES YOU DO! IT SEZ HERE ON THIS NOTE!" Mimi opens the rolled up note...  
"How do I love you?  
How much, To what extent?  
I love you with every breath,  
I love you with every sigh,  
With every waking hour and every dream at night,  
When I wake up in the morning, I pray to see you rise,  
When I go to sleep at night, I bid that you are well,  
I love you from the depths of the fathomless deep,  
To the vaults of the azure sky,  
But most of all, I love thee with all my heart,  
And If it must stop to keep yours,  
I will gladly lay it down and die a million and one deaths  
So that I may guard thee from the edge of Eternity,  
And I will always do...  
For I love you..."  
There was a brief moment of silence, but it seemed like a million years. The air rustled through Joe's blue locks like bull rushes in a storm. Mimi cried tenderly, clenching onto the note...  
"One more time, Joe Kido, that you say you don't love me, I am going to forget you ever wrote this note, you understand!?"  
"wait...no...I..."  
"You understand!?"  
"Shut UP!"  
"You UNDERSTAND!?"  
"SHUT UP!!!"  
Lightning crackled in the skies. The winds grew heavily. The water began to rock Mimi's raft mercilessly. Joe reached for his head, somewhat wanting to rip his hair off. He too was crying...  
"Stop...Mimi...I wan't to hear no more..."  
"Just say it, Joe. Say what's really inside you. Not the anger. Not the hatred. Not the jealousy. I know that's not what lies inside you, Joe. It can't be that. It can't be." Joe tries to mute Mimi's voice, but for some reason, his powers escape him... "The Joe I know loves me so much. So much... that even amidst all that anger, hatred, and jealousy...he still loved me enough to save my life..."  
Joe was silent, hovering high above Mimi. She looked up to him, as the gray clouds formed overhead. Joe's tears dropped into the water, rippling the mirror-like expanse.  
"Mimi...you can never ever possibly know how much I loved you."  
"Then why are you doing this?"  
Joe was once again silent. Does he have an answer? Does he have one? Not one? Joe could'nt think of a reason why he was doing it. Revenge? Hatred? Mimi just broke his train of thought by reminding him that beneath that façade of murderous intent, he was still Joe who, while trying to shut his eyes and ears from her, saved her life in the end...  
"Joe. If you do not have a reason, then stop. We need you back there, with the other digidestined. You don't know just how much all of us depend on you... I guess we should have realized that before huh..."  
Joe could just cry. Sobbing. With a final burst of anger, he focused all his gained power into a scorching ball of fire which exploded downwards, towards the waters, creating a whirlpool, which slowly sucks the swamp dry.  
Suddenly, Joe plummets to the whirlpool...  
"Joe!" Mimi screamed, following Joe. She swims for him only to be sucked in too. They go round and round and round until they could not feel anything. The darkness of total nonexistence have swallowed them. So much for all that romantic stuff.  
~*~  
Epilogue.  
~*~  
"Uhhh..." Mimi slowly openned her eyes. "What happened..."  
"Mimi...Mimi, speak to me..."  
"Joe...Joe...is that you, Joe?"  
"Thank God, your okay. Mimi I thought I would never speak to you again..."  
"Joe, where are we..."  
"Were in Izzy's place. When we were about to be sucked into the whirlpool, I teleported us out, just as I did with the others..."  
"How'd you..."  
"Don't tire yourself, Mimi..."  
Mimi openned her eyes a bit. "Joe..."  
"Yes?"  
"Is it true... what you wrote in that letter... how much you loved me?"  
"I...uhm...errr...just rest now, okay Mimi?"  
"Okay Joe." And Mimi falls asleep.  
The Next Day (I'm not sure which one...),  
"So Joe, I heard your corpse mysteriously disappeared when you materialized in Izzy's Room?" Tai interrogated Joe with a slightly confused look.  
"And how did you Digivolve Zudomon into Marine Angemon anyway?" Hikari asked, following his big brother.  
"Well, actually, I don't remember anymore. I think my memories have been erased after I slept last night. Probably so I can't tell anyone about it."  
Tai, Sora, Izzy, Kari, TK, Mimi and Joe congregated back in the Izumi house after staying there all night.  
"So Joe, you wanna go with me? I bet all that Pre Med study would pay off back in MIT when they start working on rabbits being sent to the digital world..."  
"I dunno Iz. I'll ask my parents first, but I bet they'll like that..."  
Mimi looked Joe straight in the eyes. "Joe, don't you ever do that again, you hear me?"  
"What are you gonna do? Kill me?"  
Mimi stands up and lunges at Joe, who begins looking like she's about to pound him into Gazpatcho (Tomato Soup served ice cold), but at the moment of contact, she was cuddling with the boy (I told you there was a first time for everything...)  
"Mimi, cut it out. Are you sure you wanna...y'know...do this in front of the gang?"  
"Sure! I kissed Matt in public before, so why can't I cuddle with you like this..."  
Mimi was currently hanging on Joe's back when Joe realized something...  
"Hey guys, where's Matt?"  
"Uh-oh..." Izzy began to sweat drop all over...  
Meanwhile, in the Odaiba Sanitarium,  
"Izzy, when I get my fists on you, I'm gonna pound you to wallpaper paste, ya hear me! I'm gonna tear you limb from limb and send one half of that brain of your's to India and the other to Pakistan! Hello? Hello? Why are'nt you answering me? Izzy? IZZY !?"  
"There goes another blonde nutcase..." Remarks a guard as he locks Matt up in a padded room...   
See, Happy Ending. You like? Everything is neatly wrapped up, with Matt sealed tight in a Sanitarium. Finally I can end this nightmare.  
The End...or is it? (BWAHAHAHAHA...the World is Mine!)  
If you think TPWLH2 deserves a Part III or you wan't it burnt in the stake for the count of heresy, you are free to E-Mail me. My address is somewhere close by. Or Review. Please Review. 


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